Oaks drop tight finale

Salem CC gives 18-win Camden all it can handle with only six players, but falls in closing seconds

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Dante Brinkley had a lot of reasons for wanting to play a memorable final game Monday night.

Not only was he playing for the last time in Salem CC’s Dupont Fieldhouse in the final game of his junior college career, it was coming against the Camden County College team he started that career with.

Individually, it was game worth remembering. The sophomore point guard from New Castle scored 19 points, dished seven assists and kept the Oaks together in a game that was tight throughout the second half. The only thing that spoiled it was the Cougars sent them into the offseason with a 72-68 loss.

“It wasn’t really about myself,” Brinkley said. “My teammates were encouraging me, like this is your last game versus your former team, you’ve got to do your thing, but, really, I wanted to go out there and win for them.

“I was the only sophomore who was playing today, but we were a tight-knit group. It wasn’t about me today, it was about the whole team. I just wanted to go out on top.

“It was special to play them out of all teams. The only thing that would have made it better is if we won, but it was still a cool opportunity to play them in my last game.”

Brinkley began his college career as a Cougar, making 10 starts in 25 games last season and averaging 3.5 points a game. He scored 11 points against the Oaks in the final game of the year, then transferred to Salem to be closer to home and cut down on his daily commute.

He averaged 14.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in his only season with the Oaks with 42 steals and a 121-49 assist-to-turnover ratio. In their 6-3 February finish, he averaged 15.7 points (with a career-high 29 against Sussex CC Saturday) with 15 steals, 49 assists and just 14 turnovers.

The Oaks (11-14) were in the game with another 18-win team Monday all the way to the wire despite having only six available players – and two of those had four fouls with five minutes to play. They fell behind by 11 in the first half, but rallied to get back in it and kept the crowd on edge the rest of the game.

Niame Scott’s 3-pointer with 4:50 left in the first half gave Salem its first lead, 26-25. There were three more lead changes before halftime and 14 in the second half. The largest lead either team had in the second half was four points, and that never lasted long.

“We had six today?” Oaks coach Mike Green asked. “You’re making me feel bad. I was just yelling at them about effort, geez that makes me feel bad, we only had six. I get so caught up in it, I forget. I’ve got to go apologize to those boys. The effort was unbelievable. I forgot all about six, but the effort was unbelievable. Sometimes you get lost in it, man; I was definitely lost in it.

“We’re right there with these guys. You kind of forget you’re playing with six players, seven players. You kind of forget your playing with freshmen.”

The last lead change came with 1:31 left when Demere Hollingsworth hit a pair of free throws to put the Cougars up 69-68. Thomas Brown made the first of two free throws with 16.6 seconds left to extend the lead.

He missed the second, Scott rebounded and Salem called time to set up a final play. The Oaks got it to Scott who drove to the basket, but came up short in traffic with three seconds left. Sincere Robinson hit two free throws at the other end to seal it.

“it was tough because of the team that we have,” Brinkley said. “We battled through a lot of adversity this year, but we were always together throughout it all, so just finishing it together would have been awesome.

“Nine times out of 10 he’s finishing that. That may have questionable, there may have been a foul, it may not have been, but regardless I’m living with it. I trust him, I trust Coach Mike, I trust Naime to finish that play, it’s just sometimes you don’t always get what you want.”

The game also was the final one of Green’s first season as the Mighty Oaks’ head coach. Green took the program right before Christmas and went 9-9 over the final two months of the season. He injected a high-energy style that reflected his own style as a player and lived and died with the 3. The Oaks averaged 81 points a game and hit 188 3s in January and February after averaging 68 points a game and hitting 50 3s in the seven games before the change.

The way they finished the season bodes well for the future. The Oaks already have five players signed for next season.

“I just told them I’d talk to them when the emotions go down, but looking at it now it’s been good,” Green said. “They gave me all they could. There were games we played with six. There were games we played with five. I think the most we had was eight. Then you take into account we haven’t played full-court, five-on-five, one day since I’ve been, so when you put everything in perspective, we played a hell of a season.”

CAMDEN CC 72, SALEM CC 68
CAMDEN CC (18-10) – Aamir Terry 1 0-0 2, Tyson Shaw 4 3-4 11, Demere Hollingsworth 5 2-2 12, Christian Barksdale 2 0-2 4, Idris Muhummad 0 0-0 0, Elias Schellenberg 0 0-0 0, Davit Gelashvilli 1 0-2 2, Sincere Robinson 1 5-5 7, Marty Dunn 1 0-0 2, Andre Burrell 8 1-1 17, Ethan Wilkins 4 0-2 8, Thomas Brown 3 1-2 7. Totals 30 12-20 72.
SALEM CC (11-14) – Niame Scott 4-9 10-14 21, Dante Brinkley 6-12 5-7 18, Shaquez Coley-Lewis 4-16 0-0 9, Tivon Woolford 2-4 0-0 5, Tajee Jordan 4-7 1-1 9, A.J. Jones 2-5 0-0 5. Totals 22-53 16-22 68.

Camden CC	32	40 –	72
Salem CC	33	35 –	68

3-point goals: Camden CC 0; Salem CC 8-23 (Scott 3-5, Brinkley 1-3, Coley-Lewis 1-10, Woolford 1-2, Jones 2-3). Rebounds: Salem CC 28 (Jones 7, Jordan 6). Assists: Salem CC 15 (Brinkley 7). Fouled out: Jordan. Total fouls: Camden CC 17, Salem CC 14.

**Salem CC’s Naime Scott drives into traffic in hopes of scoring the game-tying basket against Camden CC. The shot didn’t fall and the Oaks lost 72-68.**

Oaks show pride

Salem CC bounces back from a bad loss that eliminated it from playoff contention to upset one of the best teams in the region

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The numbers weren’t in Salem Community College’s favor at the start of the game – almost half as many wins as their opponent and two fewer players – but the Mighty Oaks have never really paid much attention to that sort of stuff. To them, the only numbers that really mattered were the ones on the scoreboard at the end of the game.

The Oaks rediscovered their long-range shooting stroke Saturday, used a 13-0 run late in the first half to take control of the game and held off a late charge from their playoff-bound visitors to score a 99-94 victory over Sussex County CC in their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention.

It was their sixth victory in eight games of a fabulous February and, with one game remaining in the season, guaranteed them a .500 record in the 18 games since Mike Green took over as head coach right before Christmas. The Skylanders (18-9) were by far the winningest team they have beaten this season.

“We responded,” Green said. “We just lost a game pretty bad to close out our playoff hopes and the guys responded. None of us were happy after that loss. We had nobody play well in that game, so they just wanted to get back out and everybody wanted to play well. They didn’t quit.

“That’s pretty much what it is. Pride. Your pride was on the line. Our pride was on the line as a team and we had to come respond and we did that.”

The Oaks (11-13) made only four of 21 3-pointers in Thursday’s 52-point loss at Northampton that eliminated them from the playoffs, but Naime Scott had that many in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Oaks hit seven 3s in the half and finished with 10 in the game.

Joshua Ramos hit three, Shaquez Coley-Lewis two and A.J. Jones one.

“Law of averages, man,” Green said. “You go 4-for-34, I told them we’d never do that again, and the next day we came in and shot more 3s. We ain’t going away from it. We’re going to live by it, we’re going to die by it. The guys just came back yesterday and worked at it; got a lot of them up. That’s our calling card. We’ve got kids who can shoot it and have confidence in their shots.”

“After the bad loss from the other day we just buckled down,” Scott said. “A lot of people always counted us out, but we don’t look at it like that. We look at it as we’re trying to get better. We always want to win and we just play as a team and the outcome showed tonight.”

Scott, a freshman from Philadelphia, led the Oaks with his junior college career-high 33 points and eight assists. His previous best was 26 in his JUCO debut against Delaware County CC. He had been averaging 15.6 in February.

Backcourt mate Dante Brinkley, a freshman from Delaware, came within a couple late missed free throws of giving the Oaks two 30-point scorers in the same game and finished with a JUCO career-high 29. They combined for 35 points in the second half.

Sussex’ P.J. Ross led all scorers with 39 points.

“I didn’t know that was their numbers; that’s impressive, very impressive,” Green said of his two big scorers. “It just comes from hard work, our guys finding each other in the right position, attacking until we get downhill and we want to go finish. I’m happy for them because I’m on them a lot. I was a guard myself, so I’m always on them, too. They get the most from me, so I’m happy for them.”

The game was tight early with seven ties and six lead changes in the first 15 minutes. The Skylanders cut it to 33-32 with 5:39 left in the first half, then the Oaks went on a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to take control of the game.

The Oaks scored on six of seven possessions, while holding the Skylanders went 0-for-5 shooting and had three turnovers.

“We played the way we wanted to play,” Green said. “We wanted to be aggressive on the ball, we turned them over a couple times, wanted to get steals and get our shooters shots. We got back on defense and rebounded. When we limit teams to one shot, we’re a lot better team. We did that a ton today, which got us the lead. When they got back in it, that’s when we didn’t do it.”

Salem led by 11 at halftime and 14 with 4:34 to play before the Skylanders mounted a comeback. Sussex got it to five with 1:10 to go and four after Ross hit three free throws with 11 seconds left, but between their ballhandling and free throw shooting Scott and Brinkley made sure they didn’t get closer.

The Oaks wrap up their season Monday at home against Camden County College, a game that was rescheduled for earlier this year. They’ll be looking to avenge an earlier four-point loss and go out 10-8 in Green’s first season with the program.

“We want to win,” Green said. “We lost to them already. They went up 15 on us, we had to fight to get back. It’s definitely another test for us. They’re one of the top teams in our league and we want to measure ourselves versus the best.

“It’s just another chance to show what we’re coming to do and put everybody on notice that our freshmen will become sophomores next year.”

SALEM CC 99, SUSSEX COUNTY CC 94
SUSSEX COUNTY CC (18-9) — Jesus Romero 3 3-5 9, Nate Aklilu 4 2-2 11, P.J. Ross 13 8-8 39, Hamadi Martin 0 2-2 2, Christian Archer 8 2-2 18, David Forzani 3 2-2 9, Jalil Golden 3 0-0 6. Totals 34 19-21 94.
SALEM CC (11-13) — Naime Scott 9-19 11-13 33, Dante Brinkley 11-16 7-12 29, Shaquez Coley-Lewis 6-9 0-0 14, Joshua Ramos 3-7 0-0 9, A.J. Jones 3-7 1-2 8, Tajee Jordan 2-5 2-2 6, Tivon Woolford 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 34-67 21-29 99.

Sussex County CC	39	55 —	94
Salem CC	50	49 —	99

3-point goals: Sussex 7 (Aklilu, Ross 5, Forzani); Salem 10-26 (Scott 4-8, Coley-Lewis 2-5, Ramos 3-7, Jones 1-4, Woolford 0-2). Rebounds: Salem 35 (Jordan 13, Scott 7, Coley-Lewis 6). Assists: Salem 19 (Scott 8). Fouled out: Forzani. Total fouls: Sussex 21, Salem 17. Officials: O’Brien, Rossi, Chase.

Salem’s Green light

After a month transitioning to a new coach, Mighty Oaks enjoying a fabulous February and entertaining thoughts of a playoff berth

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – As much as he wanted it to happen right away, Mike Green figured it would take some time for his way to play to kick in when he took over the Salem Community College basketball team right before Christmas.

It’s taken about a month and now the Oaks are playing some of their best ball since the school revived the program in 2019.

The Mighty Oaks’ fabulous February continued Monday night in an 87-81 home win over Williamson College of the Trades that was closer than it should have been.

It was their third win in a row and fifth in six February starts, their best stretch since a similar run in February 2022. And it keeps alive their hopes of making playoffs, which would be quite the coup considering they were a team in limbo at midseason.

“What me and the coaches have been preaching is finally coming to light,” Green said. “I thought the results were going to be there the first month. I talked with some people I know, some people who have been in basketball for years, and that’s just not the way it works.

“Sometimes we get naïve as coaches. We think it’s supposed to happen overnight, but my assistants do a really good job of wheeling me back, telling me what we’ve got. It took us a month and a couple weeks, so now it’s clicking a little better for us. The guys are trying to understand how I wanted to play and I think it’s all coming together at the right time.”

Time is the operative word. While time wasn’t on the Oaks’ side when it came to searching for a coach, the timing certainly worked in their favor for landing Green.

The old coach, A.J. Williams, who had been with the program since it restarted, resigned on the bus ride back from a Dec. 14 loss at Ocean County CC. Athletics director Bob Bunnell remembers that call vividly and it left him desperate. The Oaks were scheduled to play Brookdale two days later and they had no coach. They ended up canceling and fortunately were open until after the holidays.

Green, a two-time Philadelphia Public League All-Star and Horizon League Player of the Year at Butler, was on the staff at Penn State that left for Notre Dame, but with the recent birth of his second child he decided to stay behind. He was a finalist for the RCSJ-Gloucester job, and received a glowing recommendation when Bunnell started reaching out to his peers for advice.

Green was announced as the Oaks’ second coach since the program’s revival two days before Christmas. They have gone 8-7 since his hiring.

“There was definitely an adjustment period,” Green said. “We had to get rid of a lot of, I wouldn’t say bad habits, but not habits I needed them to play with. It definitely took time.

“I knew coming into it that it would be challenging, but I played this way. I played for a coach in Europe who got fired and I had to play for a new coach, so I knew all the dynamics that went into it. I like challenges and I thought it’d be a good challenge.”

The Green way was nothing like the way they had played before. It was fast, it promoted shooting, it maximized possessions. It was the kind of way that gets junior college players noticed by coaches on the next level and it’s Green’s goal to get every one of his players a scholarship at the next level.

February has been by far the Oaks’ most productive month of the season. They’re averaging 87 points a game this month. They’re shooting 49.3 percent from the floor, 40.9 percent from 3-point range and 76.3 percent from the line and have grabbed 30.7 rebounds a game – all better than any of the previous three months of the season. Their assists are up and their turnovers are down from the month before.

They went from averaging about 69 points a game in the first two months of the season to 80.7 in January. They hit almost twice as many 3s in Green’s first month as they did the two previous months combined. They’ve hit 166 total in the 15 games since he’s taken over.

“The transition has gone well because ever since they got here it was kind of like a new season,” freshman guard Dante Brinkley said. “There was nothing about the past, what happened; it was 0-0 at that point. There was a lot of buy-in when we looked at our coach’s resume and we just respect that. You want to learn from that and I think everyone’s bought into that.”

“He’s made us play different; he wants us to run and score,” freshman guard Niami Scott added. “The other (way) was slower. I knew the people who were coming to us, the coaching staff and all that, so I was happy for us and I felt like with the new coaching staff we can probably win more. It’s more fun, playing as a team, scoring 100 and just laughing and joking when we get the win.”

The Oaks (10-12) looked to be headed to one of those kinds of wins against the Mechanics (8-15), It started with Tajee Jordan dominating inside, getting halfway to his sixth double-double five minutes into the game and carried on with the 3s. Oh, the 3s.

The Oaks made 19 of them in their win over Harrisburg Area Saturday and were on a similar track Monday with nine in the first half. They went into halftime up by 15 after leading by as many as 19.

They didn’t play quite the same in the second half and the Mechanics nearly came all the way back. It was a one-point game with 46.5 seconds left.

It was 83-81 when Williamson’s Ronald Johnson missed a potential game-tying jumper with 10 seconds to go. Brinkley hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to seal it and then stole the inbounds pass and converted it into a layup at the buzzer for the final margin.

“At that time it’s win time, you’ve got to make plays, you’ve got to do whatever you can to win,” Brinkley said. “That was my mindset: Whatever I can do to seal this game up, help my team win, that’s what I’ve gotta do.”

Brinkley finished with 10 points and was one of five Salem scorers in double figures. Scott led the way with 21 points, including 9-of-11 from the free throw line in the second half. A.J. Jones hit four 3s in the first half and finished with 19. Jordan had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Shaquez Coley-Lewis hit four 3s and finished with 12.

The Oaks are still in the running for a Region XIX playoff berth, but they have no margin for error. They have to win all three of their remaining games to qualify.

“Out of everything that we’ve been through this year I think that would be a good way to go out this season,” Brinkley said. “I think that’s what everybody’s focus is, trying to make the playoffs.”

“If we do get in there we’ll be a dangerous team to play,” Green said. “Nobody should want to see us coming at them.”

SALEM CC 87, WILLIAMSON TRADES 81
WILLIAMSON (8-15) – Jordan Draine 2 2-2 6, Abdoulaye Diallo 4 3-4 11, Garrett Watkins 1 0-2 2, Liam Pardin 2 1-1 5, Ronald Johnson 12 2-2 26, Corby Bennett 5 1-2 11, Semaj Cherry 8 4-6 20. Totals 34 13-19 81.
SALEM CC (10-12) – Niame Scott 5-10 0-11 21, Dante Brinkley 3-8 4-7 10, A.J. Jones 6-8 3-4 19, Tivon Woolford 1-4 0-0 3, Tajee Jordan 5-9 3-4 13, Shaquez Coley-Lewis 4-11 0-0 12, Joshua Ramon 3-7 2-2 9. Totals 27-57 21-28 87.

Williamson Trades	35	46 –	81
Salem CC	50	37 –	87

3-point goals: Williamson Trades 0; Salem 12-26 (Scott 2-5, Jones 4-5, Woolford 1-1, Jordan 0-1, Coley-Lewis 4-9, Ramos 1-5). Rebounds: Salem 30 (Jordan 10, Scott 7, Jones 6). Technical fouls: Williamson Trades coach Michaels. Fouled out: Cherry. Total fouls: Williamson Trades 18, Salem 18. Officials: Carter, Bacon, Richardson.

Learning curve

Couple of rough patches conspire to send Salem CC women to defeat in final home game of season

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Whether you’re a new team in the game or been playing since Naismith hung his first peach basket, three principles remain true about the game. If you don’t protect the ball, rebound and finish at the rim, you don’t win.

The revived Salem Community College women’s basketball team went through three such stretches Saturday and in a 71-41 loss to Raritan Valley CC in the Dupont Field House.

**Salem CC’s Carly Santimaw (1) takes a defensive stance against Raritan Valley’s Jakayia Jenkins in Saturday’s game.**

There was a 10-0 run over the final 4:30 of the first quarter that gave the Lions control of the game. Then there was a 15-4 spree over about the same stretch in the third quarter and finally a forgettable 12-2 fourth quarter in which it didn’t score a field goal.

Take away those stretches and the Mighty Oaks (8-11) hung with a sophomore-laden team of internationals that until recently had been ranked in the JUCO Division II Top 20.

“It’s one of the things we’ve been fighting through, honestly,” Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “Our energy was there, but our execution wasn’t there.”

That kind of thing can happen when you bring in nine players from nine different schools who played the game nine different ways and try to blend them into one system that wasn’t necessarily the one they signed up for. With a year together under Marsh’s Way next season should go a lot smoother.

“I think if we work on those things for next year they will definitely be great next year,” added Carly Santimaw, a freshman with sophomore credits from Pennsville. “It’s just kind of a learning progress, we just learn as we go and it’s the first year, so …”

The loss was Salem’s fourth in a row and forces the Oaks to win their final three games on the road to make the playoffs.

The game was Salem’s final home game of its first season since bringing the program back after a 10-year break. The school shuttered the program after the 2013-14 season.

Since revitalizing the program Marsh has been trying to spread the word that there is a program here and beating the bushes to find players. He originally was hired as an assistant coach to find players for the upstart program, then was elevated to head coach when the former coach left abruptly for the Midwest.

Both of the players who played their final home games for the Oaks Saturday joined the program after originally coming to campus to do something else. Kyla Buerger came in from Houston to play softball, but she played basketball in high school and became intrigued about helping start a program from the ground floor. Santimaw was coming to Salem just to study, but also liked what she hearing when the Oaks coaches came to her Senior Night at Salem Tech.

“I was really excited,” Buerger said. “I love being a part of stuff like this. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tough year. We’re not the tallest (team), but it’s mainly the heart that our team has (that helps it persevere).”

“It’s a cool thing to be a part of, because we’re making history,” Santimaw said. “It’s great to be a part of that.”

The Mighty Oaks recognized one of the stars of that last team. After an exhaustive search through the archives over the summer, the school discovered Shaqui Coppage was the all-time leading scorer in program history and recognized the accomplishment at halftime.

Coppage scored 1,236 points in her two seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14) with the Oaks and is second on the school’s all-time scoring list regardless of gender. She scored 1,262 points at Salem High School before that.

She honestly didn’t know where she stood on the all-time list. When the school shut down the program, all the banners and records went into storage – until a summer intern went through them to bring the records up to date.

“It was amazing because I didn’t know any of it until now,” Coppage said. “To know all this now, with the numbers and being the all-time leading scorer, it’s overwhelming. I’m overwhelmed with different emotions. Like I want to cry, but I’m smiling real hard.”

Coppage averaged 22.9 in her sophomore year, which turned out to the program’s final season for a long time. The players learned during the year the program would be discontinued at the end of the season, but they were determined to finish strong and got the team into the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.

She was disappointed they shut it down, but was over the moon when she learned they were bringing it back.

“I was very proud of the school to do so,” she said. “Basketball was the thing that kept me going. It pushed me and for another little girl it could be the same for them, too. It was good to know they brought it back. I have a daughter as well now, so that’s something she can look forward to.”

RARITAN VALLEY 71, SALEM CC 41
RARITAN VALLEY (19-5) – Kerine Thomas 3 0-0 7, Judith Vila 7 0-0 16, Freya Rauschenfels 1 1-2 3, Lucia Noin 11 2-2 24, Quanajah Felder 3 0-0 8, JaNya Mills 2 0-1 4, Vega Gil 2 1-2 5, Julia Fontanillo 2 0-0 4, Alexis Junker 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 4-7 71.
SALEM CC (8-11) – Caroline Zullo 0-6 1-4 1, Maggie St. Clair 2-8 0-0 5, Jakayla Jenkins 1-9 5-6 7, Kyla Buerger 0-0 0-0 0, Carly Santimaw 2-12 0-0 5, Alexa Hopkins 4-8 0-0 11, Callie Rozak 0-0 0-0 0, Kathryn Laurence 4-9 2-4 12. Totals 13-52 8-14 41.

Raritan Valley	21	15	23	12 –	71
Salem CC	9	14	16	2 –	41

3-point goals: Raritan Valley 5 (Thomas, Vila 2, Felder 2); Salem CC 7-18 (St. Clair 1-2, Santimaw 1-4, Hopkins 3-4, Laurence 2-5). Total fouls: Raritan Valley 9, Salem CC 5.